Music, song, and dance are also used as means to to rouse their passions, give life to the Verbena's will, and connect them to the people and cultures from which their rituals originate. Perhaps the most powerful foci to the Verbena are bodily fluids, particularly blood and semen as carriers of life energy and sympathetic links to their source. Much of the knowledge passed down from mentor to apprentice and between members of a coven has to do with what effects different herbs are best used for. Herbs and potions are popular means of drawing out and combining the chemical and spiritual properties of plants, which can be especially potent when combined with the Verbena's will and desire. Some keep with them Books of Shadows containing the accumulated secrets of its owners. Traditional tools include knives and daggers, broomsticks, wands, staves, cauldrons, mirrors, and jewelry. The Verbena employ a wide variety of foci based on both their symbolic and mystical properties. To be Awakened is to merely intuitively sense the magic all around them, and to to shape it directly with their own life energy as the Verbena's ancestors once did. In fact, the Verbena count quite a number of hedge-magicians among their ranks and draw little distinction between them and true mages. Magic is that energy, that life, and whether one is Awakened or not they have it pumping through their veins. Quintessence is the pulse of the universe itself, carrying energy and the potential for change, giving life to the world. There is real power in the phases of the moon and positions of the stars, in the combination of plants properly prepared, in the blood and seed of living creatures. Unlike many mages, the Verbena believe there is innate magic that flows through everything in Creation.
Of all the Traditions, the Verbena are perhaps most challenged by the changes brought to the world by advancing technology and expanding civilizations.
This includes a deep respect for the Earth and the natural order, a holistic view of people and the world as intrinsically intertwined, and the belief that power and understanding can be found by embracing life in all its passions and pains. Regardless of their many differing faiths and customs, the Verbena share many principles in common. Though modern Verbena have some similarities to Wiccans, they are inheritors of far older legacies from disparate cultures originating around the world. The Verbena is a Tradition of mages in the Classic World of Darkness dedicated to preserving the ancient crafts and wisdom passed down over the ages by witches and warlocks, druids and druidesses, shamans, mystics, and priests and priestesses of the Old Gods.
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